“Casey’s done a great job in goal,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “The team defense has been pretty solid. I thought the guys did a pretty good job tonight. We kept a lot of the shots to the outside and we blocked some shots.”

They’ve won their last three games by a combined score of 11-0 and extended their scoreless streak to 178 minutes, 52 seconds, the longest such stretch since the 1968-69 season when the Wildcats set the team record of 181:31.

The last time UNH had three consecutive shutouts was in the 1928-29 season.

“The team is playing unbelievable defense right now,” said DeSmith, whose toughest stretch came early in the third period when the River Hawks picked up the pace. “They’re not letting much through. When they do I’m there to make the save, but they’re doing a terrific job in front of me.”

The Wildcats prevailed Friday night despite the loss of forwards Greg Burke, who injured a shoulder in the first period, and Jay Camper, who left a head injury in the second.

UNH scored once late in the second period and twice in the third to put away the River Hawks, who fell to 2-5-1 and 1-4-1 in the league.

The Wildcats visit Boston University on Sunday.

“We’ll compete every night,” Umile said, “but we want to be a tough team to play against. Good things are happening. We’ll take it one game at a time. We knew this was going to be a tough weekend.”

After losing Burke and Camper relatively early, the Wildcats skated three lines the rest of the way.

“The guys played a gritty game,” Umile said. “They played hard and they played smart. I thought our team responded well, especially with the adversity we faced early losing our assistant captain, but they stayed with it. They guys are believing in team defense and everybody is contributing.”

Van Riemsdyk, who finished with a goal and an assist, gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with 4:07 left in the second period.

Kevin Goumas won the battle for a loose puck in the offensive zone and got it to van Riemsdyk. The sophomore defenseman pulled it around a UMass-Lowell defender in the right circle and beat goalie Doug Carr with a hard wrist shot.

The River Hawks were virtually playing a man down for most of that shift as UML forward Riley Wetmore struggled to get back in the play after blocking a shot from the point.

UMass-Lowell’s inability to clear the puck resulted in van Riemsdyk’s fourth goal of the season. Goumas assisted and Downing created a screen in front.

“Goumas made an awesome little pass at the blue line,” van Riemsdyk said. “I knew they were going to be a bit tired. We knew they like to come out and lay down and block the shot. He went down a little early. I pulled it around him a created a little angle and luckily it went in.”

UNH outshot the River Hawks through two periods, 25-12, including 14-7 in the second.

Downing made it 2-0 midway through the third and Block sealed it with a power-play goal with 20 seconds remaining for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Block converted the rebound of a Connor Hardowa shot from the right point. The Wildcats have at least one power-play goal in each of their seven victories.

Downing’s goal was the prettiest of the night when he capped an odd-man rush with a backhand finish to the short side at 10:52 of the third period.

“Grayson made a sick little move with a backhand up top like he’s done so many times in practice,” said van Riemsdyk, who assisted on the play. “It was pretty sweet.”

Downing gave the Wildcats some insurance.

“Casey’s seen it before,” Downing said. ”Sometimes I’ll get him and sometimes he gets the glove on it. It happened to work tonight and that’s all that matters.”